Ég tel penna.

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Breakdown of Ég tel penna.

• penninn: the pen
• telja: to count

Questions & Answers about Ég tel penna.

What case is penna in, and why doesn’t it look like pennar?

penna is the accusative plural of penni, used because telja (“to count”) takes a direct object in the accusative. The nominative plural is pennar, but once you make it an object, it changes to accusative plural penna.

Why doesn’t Icelandic have a word for “a” before penni?

Icelandic expresses indefiniteness by leaving the noun bare. So penni (nom sg) or penna (acc sg/pl) can mean “a pen” or “pens.” There’s no separate indefinite article. For definiteness, you use a suffix: e.g. penninn (“the pen”), pennarnir (“the pens”).

How do you pronounce Ég tel penna?

In IPA it’s roughly [jɛːɡ tʰɛlː pʰɛnːa], which you can approximate as “YEH-k t-el PEN-nah.” Stress is on the first syllable of each word: ÉG, TEL, PEN-na. The double ll in tel can be a “dark l,” but a regular “l” approximation is fine for learners.

Why is ég (“I”) needed here? Could you just say tel penna?

Without ég, tel penna is read as a 2nd-person singular imperative (“Count pens!”). Icelandic is a V2 language and normally needs an explicit subject in a statement, so you include ég to show it’s 1st-person present indicative.

Does telja only mean “to count”?